Before boarding a 10 day Mediterranean cruise this November, we have one full day and night in Rome. Please help to prioritize our must dos. I have been Rome and have a trip planned for next fall, but this will be my 15 year son�s first trip, so this day is for him. We are traveling with other families and want to see the highlights and make it fun with our teenagers.

Also, would love recommendations for a great restaurant for our small group (there will be about 12 of us). Looking for delicious Roman food, a classic vibe and great location.

So appreciate sharing your experience as we plan a quintessential 24 hours in Rome. Grazie!

Yo CBC,
Maybe check out dining outdoors at Taverna Agape in lovely Piazza Simeone? That'd put you outdoors next to the fountain. Added-value: you could do a 2-fer with nearby Piazza Navona. AND you all could also go to close Ponte Angelo for the famed views.
Good luck.
*with such a large group I would def make reservations ASAP
I am done. the fellow Canuck maybe?

With one day, I would not try to see all of the major sites (St. Peter's, Colosseum, Pantheon, etc.) but instead visit just a few. I would not do the Vatican unless your family had a specific religious or art interest, since it can be a slog.

What are your teen's interests? When we were in Rome, my sons had recently read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, so we visited Piaza Navona, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Santa Maria del Popolo and St. Peter's. If your teen is into video games, he may have played Assassin's Creed, which has a game set in Renaissance Rome (Brotherhood).

The Colosseum seems to be of interest to a lot of teens. If you decide on that, then be sure to book in advance and consider a guide. You can find recommendations on Fodors, probably.

I would probably only do one or two big sites (maybe the Pantheon, too?) and then allow time for strolling around a neighborhood and enjoying the cafes and sites (Piazza Navona?).

My only personal reference point is from many decades ago - a group that size ate at Pancrazio. The vaulted lower level makes for great setting right the historic center of Rome, and it's large enough to accommodate your group & reserve for groups online.
https://www.ristorantepancrazio.it/en/

For a group that large, you may also want to ask your hotel if they can recommend a neighborhood restaurant, and perhaps also make arrangements. November is less busy, so getting a reservation should not be an issue. Depending on the weather there may or may not be outdoor seating that day, so I'd think you'd want an inside table or private room.

About sightseeing, with 1 day, can you confirm that is a full day after you've slept in Rome the night before, or is it the day you arrive 0-dark thirty after an overnight flight?

If it's the latter, then the group will be hard pressed to be on the go the entire day.....

to add onto what's mentioned above, there basically are 3 main tourist areas in Rome
1. Vatican - St. Peter's - magnificent basilica & elliptical square, free to enter, Vatican museums - not gonna fit this trip, so don't try.
2. Historic center - Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navonna, Campo Dei Fiori. Makes for a pleasant stroll, lunch at a cafe, or stand up pizza to go (Roman style, not Naples), gelato, browsing, etc.
3. Colosseum & nearby forum.

You do not have time to even scratch the surface of all 3, so I recommend you pick one or 2 and enjoy them rather than try to check more off your list.

Personally, I love St. Peters, but it's a bit out of the way from the other 2 as noted above. There are countless beautiful, intimate sized neighborhood churches all over Rome - If you're so inclined, stopping in any one of them for a moment of quiet prayer, lighting a candle, and marveling at the artwork makes a nice moment of solitude from the hustle and bustle.

The Colosseum, and the quintessential touristy gladiators posing outside for photos (you pay them), while hokey, may be what your 15yr old would enjoy, plus a tour inside the Colosseum. For a 15yr old, the Forum may seem like a pile of old rocks and columns and statues. Very intersting to some, but boring as hades to others.

Same for the historic center. The buildings and squares and fountains may be the best thing since gelato for some tourists, but for others, it's all about the gelato, or pasties, or other foods and besides tossing a coin into the Trevi fountain everything looks like a bunch of easily forgettable old stone buildings.

You know your family best. My recommendation is to focus on experiences rather than having a list of sights to check off....

Thank you, thank you! Great ideas.
J62�we arrive the night before so we�ll be hitting the ground running w/ some sleep.
Love the tie-in to the video game (my son is a gamer) and we�ll watch Angels & Demons and Gladiator before we go.

The 2 out of 3 idea makes sense and I think we will skip the Vatican this trip. We�re staying around the corner from the forum and I definitely want to include a tour of the Coliseum.

I have heard the Domus Aurea tour has a VR component that teens may enjoy. Anyone been?

Sounds like you have some great suggestions from folks already! I haven't done it, but my friend has done the VR experience of Nero's Palace and said it was her favorite part of her trip to Rome. So I'm sure your kids would love it.

Another fun thing for teens? Stay in the Trastavere neighborhood. It's very hip, fun, with loads of restaurants and shops. It's also the cool spot for teens and college-aged folks to hang. Most nights people gather to play music and have a big dance party in Piazza Trilussa in the neighborhood.

Remember November it gets dark earlier and the weather might be iffy. The one advantage of stuff like the Vatican is it's indoors. Doesn't matter if it's raining or dark out.

The wonderful thing about Rome is that it can be anything you want it to be. Yes there are the Big 4 -- the Vatican/St. Peter's, the Coliseum, the Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain -- but you don't have to approach it that way. There are lots of ways to make Rome tangible and not seem just like a bunch of churches and 2000-year-old bricks.

• Are any of the teenagers already thinking about college? Are any of them looking to study architecture or civil engineering, and/or attend the University of Virginia? The Pantheon is the basis for both UVA's Rotunda building and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello house. Maybe approach going to the Patheon as "Thomas Jefferson loved this building and copied it twice in Charlottesville" (architecture/UVA) or "The Pantheon dome was the world's largest dome for ~1500 years until Brunelleschi built a bigger one at the Duomo in Florence" (structural engineering, construction). A little bit of studying before the trip could unlock plenty of other great examples -- the Coliseum being one of them!
• Expanding on the gladiator theme mentioned elsewhere in this thread: after going to the Coliseum, go down the street to the admittedly-unimpressive Circus Maximus. But watch the chariot race scene from the movie Ben-Hur first, and let everyone pretend they are Charlton Heston trying to beat out the Roman soldier Massala to win the championship.
• Maybe the teenagers are studying world history in school or are just interested in history. Then maybe do parts of the Forum.

15-year-old me would absolutely have wanted to see the Coliseum, couldn't have cared less about the Vatican/St. Peter's (or churches in general), and would have been surprised to learn that Italian-American food and Italian/Roman food are two vastly different cuisines.

tdyls what a thoughtful response. Great ideas!
thank you.

I suggest showing your son these responses and perhaps getting a guidebook out of the library so he can be a big part of choosing what he would like to do. I find if teens have a buy-in, they tend to be much more interested and excited about the day's plans.

Totally agree with all the suggestions about investigating your teen's interests. And unless he's into Michelangelo or wants to be Pope, skip the Vatican.

I always think the Pantheon/Piazza Navona area is the best place to stay for newbies with no time. For sure that area is touristy, and now that the Pantheon has admission times (!), seeing it is not the easy-peasy thing it once was, but every member of the party then has the option to walk over to the Spanish Steps, and/or the Trevi, and/or over to the Colosseum/Forum, or just plop, get gelato on tap, and enjoy all the action.

“around the corner from the Forum” is a great location. In that case, as an alternative to St Peter’s, you could consider church visits to San Pietro in Vincoli with Michelangeo’s statue of Moses, or Santa Maria Maggiore.
Domus Aurea tours are on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only; does that fit your date? Yes, the VR is excellent. And it’s an indoor tour so not weather dependent.
if you will be in Rome on a Monday instead, the new multimedia experience at the Horrea Piperataria (spice warehouse) looks rather cool.
https://colosseo.it/en/guided-tours/horrea-piperataria/
If touring the Colosseum, try to pick a tour that includes the underground level.
If God forbid you are all trying to tour at once, you need to buy group tickets rather than individual.

I am following up on Mama Mia's post - what is your son interested in? I can imagine he might be interested in the Colosseum as mentioned several times above. (He can go to gladiator school as well for 2 hours). I agree you guys should do a really great tour, and go underground. TOTALLY agree you should stay in the historic center Pantheon/Piazza Navona, Via Coronari, Campo dei Fiori. You can roll out of bed and cover about 5 great sites within a 30-minute walk. (everything above and the Castel St Angelo). I've done the Nero's Palace tour several times. The majority of the tour is following the tour guide and looking at the archaeological work that has been done and the VR part is fabulous. As everyone else has stated, unless your son is wildly into art and sculpture, skip the Vatican for sure. For the adults, around this area (mentioned above) are a church with a Carravaggio (https://understandingrome.substack.c...onna-of-loreto) Palazzo Altemps (a stunning sculpture museum (https://museonazionaleromano.benicul...lazzo-altemps/) and 3 Caravaggios at the Church San Luigi dei Francisci ( https://www.turismoroma.it/en/places...t-louis-french) I travel from my hotel to visit all of these sites al the way to the Pantheon in 2 hours. What about the Capuchin Crypts? https://www.getyourguide.com/rome-l3...a-d965b9747bf1. A bike ride on the Appian Way is great BUT will take up a lot of time. Basically - you can't really go wrong. It is all breathtaking, stunning and glorious. Just make sure your kids keep their wallets close! Have a great trip.